Thomas McCarthy (20th century)
Irish | alma_mater = University College Cork | occupation = Poet, Novelist | notableworks = The Sorrow Garden, Mr Dineen's Careful Parade, "The Merchant Prince" }} Thomas McCarthy (born 6 March 1954) is an Irish poet, novelist, and literary critic. Life MacCarthy was born in Cappoquin, co. Waterford. He was educated at the Convent of Mercy Co-Ed in Cappoquin, where he edited a student magazine and wrote his first poetry.Thomas MacCarthy, "Why I Write," Ricorso.net. Web, Aug. 11, 2016. He then attended University College Cork, where he had his first poem published, first in a university magazine and then in the Irish Times. While at University College, he was part of a resurgence of literary activity under the inspiration of John Montague. His first collection of poetry, The First Convention, was published in 1978. The following year he attended the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa. He has lived in Cork for many years. McCarthy edited, at various times, The Cork Review and Poetry Ireland Review. He has published seven collections of poetry with Anvil Press Poetry, London, including '' The Sorrow Garden'', The Lost Province, Mr Dineen's Careful Parade, The Last Geraldine Officer ("a major achievement", in the view of academic and poet Maurice Harmonhttp://www.munsterlit.ie/Southword/Issues/17/Reviews/last_geraldine_officer.html)and Merchant Prince, described as "an ambitious and substantive book".http://eprints.nuim.ie/866/1/Local_habitations_and_names.pdf He is also the author of two novels; Without Power and Asya and Christine. He has worked for Cork City Libraries since 1987. He is married with two children, and lives in Cork City. Writing The main themes of his poetry are Southern Irish politics, love and, memory. In his work "the ludicrous and the homely go hand-in-hand but the relaxed, conversational style can switch from emphatic narration to literary observation, as when the poet quotes Henry James’s remark, ‘As the picture is reality so the novel is history/And not as the poem is: a metaphor and closed thing." His monograph "Rising from the Ashes" tells the story of the burning of the Carnegie Free Library in Cork City by the Black and Tans in 1920 and the subsequent efforts to rebuild the collection with the help of donors from all over the world.http://www.corkcitylibraries.ie/whatson/librarynews/ Recognition He has won the Patrick Kavanagh Award, the American-Irish Foundation’s Literary Award, and the O’Shaughnessy Prize for Poetry. He is a member of Aosdána.Thomas McCarthy, Anvil Press Poetry. Web, Aug. 11, 2016. Publications Poetry *''The First Convention''. Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1978. *''The Sorrow Garden''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1981. *''The Non-Aligned Storyteller''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1984. *''Seven Winters in Paris''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1989. *''The Lost Province''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1996. *''Mr Dineen’s Careful Parade: New and selected poems''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 1999. *''Merchant Prince''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 2005. *''The Last Geraldine Officer''. London: Anvil Press Poetry, 2009. Fiction *''Without Power''. Swords, Co. Dublin, Ireland: Poolbeg Press, 1990. *''Asya and Christine''. Swords, Co. Dublin, Ireland: Poolbeg Press, 1992. Non-fiction *''Gardens of Remembrances''. Dublin: New Island Books, 1998. Edited *''The Turning Tide: New writing from County Waterford''. Waterford, Ireland: Waterford County Council, 2002. Anthologized *''The Inherited Boundaries: Younger poets of the Republic of Ireland'' (edited by Sebastien Barry). Portlaoise, Ireland: Dolmen Press, 1986. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Thomas McCarthy, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Aug. 11, 2016. See also *List of Irish poets References *Ryan, Ray. Ireland and Scotland: Literature and Culture, State and Nation, 1966-2000. Oxford University Press, 2002. Notes External links ;Poems *Thomas McCarthy at the Poetry Foundation *Two poems by Thomas McCarthy *Thomas McCarthy, 3 poems *Thomas McCarthy at Poetry International (15 poems) ;Prose *"Why I Write" ;Audio / video *Thomas McCarthy at Podcasts.ie *Thomas McCarthy at YouTube ;About *Thomas McCarthy at Anvil Press Poetry *Thomas McCarthy at Ricorso Category:Alumni of University College Cork Category:Irish poets Category:1954 births Category:Living people Category:People from County Waterford Category:Aosdána members Category:20th-century Irish writers Category:21st-century Irish writers Category:International Writing Program alumni Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets